US5988797A - Recording head - Google Patents

Recording head Download PDF

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Publication number
US5988797A
US5988797A US08/424,619 US42461995A US5988797A US 5988797 A US5988797 A US 5988797A US 42461995 A US42461995 A US 42461995A US 5988797 A US5988797 A US 5988797A
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United States
Prior art keywords
electrodes
heat generating
resistor
printing
fluctuation
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Expired - Fee Related
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US08/424,619
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English (en)
Inventor
Hiroshi Itoh
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Mitsubishi Electric Corp
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Mitsubishi Electric Corp
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Assigned to MITSUBISHI DENKI KABUSHIKI KAISHA reassignment MITSUBISHI DENKI KABUSHIKI KAISHA ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST (SEE DOCUMENT FOR DETAILS). Assignors: ITOH, HIROSHI
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    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B41—PRINTING; LINING MACHINES; TYPEWRITERS; STAMPS
    • B41J—TYPEWRITERS; SELECTIVE PRINTING MECHANISMS, i.e. MECHANISMS PRINTING OTHERWISE THAN FROM A FORME; CORRECTION OF TYPOGRAPHICAL ERRORS
    • B41J2/00—Typewriters or selective printing mechanisms characterised by the printing or marking process for which they are designed
    • B41J2/315—Typewriters or selective printing mechanisms characterised by the printing or marking process for which they are designed characterised by selective application of heat to a heat sensitive printing or impression-transfer material
    • B41J2/32—Typewriters or selective printing mechanisms characterised by the printing or marking process for which they are designed characterised by selective application of heat to a heat sensitive printing or impression-transfer material using thermal heads
    • B41J2/345—Typewriters or selective printing mechanisms characterised by the printing or marking process for which they are designed characterised by selective application of heat to a heat sensitive printing or impression-transfer material using thermal heads characterised by the arrangement of resistors or conductors
    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B41—PRINTING; LINING MACHINES; TYPEWRITERS; STAMPS
    • B41J—TYPEWRITERS; SELECTIVE PRINTING MECHANISMS, i.e. MECHANISMS PRINTING OTHERWISE THAN FROM A FORME; CORRECTION OF TYPOGRAPHICAL ERRORS
    • B41J2/00—Typewriters or selective printing mechanisms characterised by the printing or marking process for which they are designed
    • B41J2/005—Typewriters or selective printing mechanisms characterised by the printing or marking process for which they are designed characterised by bringing liquid or particles selectively into contact with a printing material
    • B41J2/01—Ink jet
    • B41J2/135—Nozzles
    • B41J2/14—Structure thereof only for on-demand ink jet heads
    • B41J2/14016—Structure of bubble jet print heads
    • B41J2/14072—Electrical connections, e.g. details on electrodes, connecting the chip to the outside...
    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B41—PRINTING; LINING MACHINES; TYPEWRITERS; STAMPS
    • B41J—TYPEWRITERS; SELECTIVE PRINTING MECHANISMS, i.e. MECHANISMS PRINTING OTHERWISE THAN FROM A FORME; CORRECTION OF TYPOGRAPHICAL ERRORS
    • B41J2/00—Typewriters or selective printing mechanisms characterised by the printing or marking process for which they are designed
    • B41J2/005—Typewriters or selective printing mechanisms characterised by the printing or marking process for which they are designed characterised by bringing liquid or particles selectively into contact with a printing material
    • B41J2/01—Ink jet
    • B41J2/135—Nozzles
    • B41J2/14—Structure thereof only for on-demand ink jet heads
    • B41J2/14016—Structure of bubble jet print heads
    • B41J2/14088—Structure of heating means
    • B41J2/14112—Resistive element
    • B41J2/1412—Shape
    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B41—PRINTING; LINING MACHINES; TYPEWRITERS; STAMPS
    • B41J—TYPEWRITERS; SELECTIVE PRINTING MECHANISMS, i.e. MECHANISMS PRINTING OTHERWISE THAN FROM A FORME; CORRECTION OF TYPOGRAPHICAL ERRORS
    • B41J2/00—Typewriters or selective printing mechanisms characterised by the printing or marking process for which they are designed
    • B41J2/005—Typewriters or selective printing mechanisms characterised by the printing or marking process for which they are designed characterised by bringing liquid or particles selectively into contact with a printing material
    • B41J2/01—Ink jet
    • B41J2/135—Nozzles
    • B41J2/16—Production of nozzles
    • B41J2/1601—Production of bubble jet print heads
    • B41J2/1604—Production of bubble jet print heads of the edge shooter type
    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B41—PRINTING; LINING MACHINES; TYPEWRITERS; STAMPS
    • B41J—TYPEWRITERS; SELECTIVE PRINTING MECHANISMS, i.e. MECHANISMS PRINTING OTHERWISE THAN FROM A FORME; CORRECTION OF TYPOGRAPHICAL ERRORS
    • B41J2/00—Typewriters or selective printing mechanisms characterised by the printing or marking process for which they are designed
    • B41J2/005—Typewriters or selective printing mechanisms characterised by the printing or marking process for which they are designed characterised by bringing liquid or particles selectively into contact with a printing material
    • B41J2/01—Ink jet
    • B41J2/135—Nozzles
    • B41J2/16—Production of nozzles
    • B41J2/1621—Manufacturing processes
    • B41J2/1623—Manufacturing processes bonding and adhesion
    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B41—PRINTING; LINING MACHINES; TYPEWRITERS; STAMPS
    • B41J—TYPEWRITERS; SELECTIVE PRINTING MECHANISMS, i.e. MECHANISMS PRINTING OTHERWISE THAN FROM A FORME; CORRECTION OF TYPOGRAPHICAL ERRORS
    • B41J2/00—Typewriters or selective printing mechanisms characterised by the printing or marking process for which they are designed
    • B41J2/005—Typewriters or selective printing mechanisms characterised by the printing or marking process for which they are designed characterised by bringing liquid or particles selectively into contact with a printing material
    • B41J2/01—Ink jet
    • B41J2/135—Nozzles
    • B41J2/16—Production of nozzles
    • B41J2/1621—Manufacturing processes
    • B41J2/1626—Manufacturing processes etching
    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B41—PRINTING; LINING MACHINES; TYPEWRITERS; STAMPS
    • B41J—TYPEWRITERS; SELECTIVE PRINTING MECHANISMS, i.e. MECHANISMS PRINTING OTHERWISE THAN FROM A FORME; CORRECTION OF TYPOGRAPHICAL ERRORS
    • B41J2/00—Typewriters or selective printing mechanisms characterised by the printing or marking process for which they are designed
    • B41J2/005—Typewriters or selective printing mechanisms characterised by the printing or marking process for which they are designed characterised by bringing liquid or particles selectively into contact with a printing material
    • B41J2/01—Ink jet
    • B41J2/135—Nozzles
    • B41J2/16—Production of nozzles
    • B41J2/1621—Manufacturing processes
    • B41J2/1631—Manufacturing processes photolithography
    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B41—PRINTING; LINING MACHINES; TYPEWRITERS; STAMPS
    • B41J—TYPEWRITERS; SELECTIVE PRINTING MECHANISMS, i.e. MECHANISMS PRINTING OTHERWISE THAN FROM A FORME; CORRECTION OF TYPOGRAPHICAL ERRORS
    • B41J2202/00—Embodiments of or processes related to ink-jet or thermal heads
    • B41J2202/01—Embodiments of or processes related to ink-jet heads
    • B41J2202/11—Embodiments of or processes related to ink-jet heads characterised by specific geometrical characteristics

Definitions

  • the present invention relates to an improvement of a recording head to be employed in thermal recording or a liquid ejection (ex. inkjet) recording.
  • FIG. 29 is a plan view showing a portion of a heat generating resistor portion of a thick film thermal head as the conventional recording head disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication (Kokai) No. Hei 01-150556, for example.
  • 1 denotes a strip form common electrode
  • 2 denotes a plurality of common electrode leads extending from one edge of the strip form common electrode 1 in a comb-like fashion
  • 3 denotes a plurality of individual electrode leads respectively having one end positioned between two common electrode leads
  • 4 denotes a strip form resistor formed by applying a resistor paste, such as that composed of ruthenium oxide and a glass component, over the common electrode leads 2 and the individual electrode leads 3 and drying and sintering the same.
  • a resistor paste such as that composed of ruthenium oxide and a glass component
  • Each of the individual heat generating resistors 6 consists of two heat generating resistors 61 and 62 disposed between the common electrode leads 2 and the individual electrode leads 3. The interval between the leads is uniform at L. Also, the individual electrode leads 3 are connected to elements to perform switching according to printing information, at a not shown position. It should be noted that a protection layer and so forth which cover the heat generating resistors 6 to provide wear resistance and anti-oxidation purpose are not shown.
  • one thermal resistor unit 6 constituted by the heat generating resistors 61 and 62 is heated.
  • the thermal resistor unit 6 is pressed onto a thermal paper as a recording paper (not shown) to cause color development by heating of the thermal resistor 6.
  • the temperature distribution of the thermal resistor 6 is such that it has two elliptical high temperature portions with the highest temperature at the central portions HL and HR of the heat generating resistors 61 and 62, as shown in FIG. 30A.
  • FIG. 30B is a section taken along line A-B of the plan view of FIG. 30A and shows that the cross-section of the strip form resistor 4 has a barrel-shaped configuration. This configuration results from formation of the strip form resistor 4 by application of the resistor paste.
  • FIG. 31 shows variation of the resistance value when a pulse having a voltage higher than that of normal use is applied to the heat generating resistor.
  • a pulse having a voltage greater than V0 when a pulse having a voltage greater than V0 is applied, the resistance is lowered.
  • a pulse having a voltage Vx may be applied.
  • the pulse voltage is not necessarily applied as a single pulse. It is possible to sequentially apply a pulse with a lower voltage a plurality of times.
  • FIG. 32 shows a relationship between a number of pulses and the resistance value in the case where the voltage is applied by dividing it into a plurality of pulses.
  • the case where relatively low voltage pulses are applied is shown by a solid line and the case where relatively high voltage pulses are applied is shown by broken line.
  • the lowest resistance portion of each of the heat generating resistor 61 and 62 produced by pulse trimming method may flucture with respect to specified value resistance. This may be influenced by particle distribution of the resistor material component and insulation material component in the paste of the ruthenium oxide as the resistor material. Accordingly, it becomes impossible to make the heat distribution of the thermal resistor 6 uniform which causes a problem of non-uniformity of the configuration and size of the color development dots.
  • the present invention has been developed for solving the problems set forth above. Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to make it possible to reduce fluctuation in the size of print dots, to reduce fluctuation in the density of printing color development, to improve tone printing performance, to facilitate exchanging of a recording head and to permit production of such recording heads with higher uniformity.
  • a distance between first and second electrodes at a center portion is made smaller than the distance between the first and second electrodes at end portions.
  • one end of the first electrodes are all connected at one end to form a common electrode.
  • the present invention is provided with a filling portion arranged to cover the resistor between adjacent first electrodes and filled with a printing liquid.
  • the invention is further provided with drive means for driving the heat generating resistor and integrally having means for inputting a signal for driving the heat generating, resistor.
  • widths of the first and second electrodes at the center portion of the connecting portion connected to the resistor are made wider in comparison with at the ends of the connecting portion, to make it possible to specify the maximum heat point, fluctuation in the size of the print dots can be made smaller, fluctuation of printing color development is made smaller and tone printing performance can be improved.
  • the width of one of the first and second electrodes, at the center portion of the connecting portion connected to the resistor, is made wider in comparison with the end of the connecting portion, to permit concentration of the peak temperature of the heat generating resistor, fluctuation in the size of the print dots can be made smaller, fluctuation of printing color development is made smaller a nd tone printing performance can be improved.
  • the invention forms the common electrode by connecting one end of the first electrode, and by partially increasing the width of one or both of the common electrode leads or the individual electrode leads, the distance of two heat generating resistors disposed between the common electrode leads and the individual electrode leads become smaller, which permits concentration of the peak temperature of the heat generating resistor, reduction in the fluctuation in size of the print dots, reduction in the fluctuation of printing color development and improvement to the tone printing performance.
  • the width of only individual electrode leads is partially widened, the distance between two heat generating resistors disposed between the common electrode leads and the individual electrode leads become smaller, to permit concentration of the peak temperature of the heat generating resistor, fluctuation in size of the print dots can be made smaller, fluctuation of printing color development can be made smaller and tone printing performance can be improved.
  • a printing liquid filling portion is provided to cover the resistors between the adjacent first and second electrodes, and ejection of the printing liquid on the heat generating body is performed using Joule heat.
  • the maximum heat generating point can be specified, because the resistance value of the heat generating resistors can be made more uniform, so that fluctuation in size of the print dots formed on the recording paper by jetting of printing liquid can be made smaller, fluctuation of printing color development can be made smaller and tone printing performance can be improved.
  • the recording head can be made as a compact element to facilitate exchanging of the recording head.
  • the production process comprises a step of forming the first and second electrodes to have a narrower interval at the center portion of the connecting portion of the first and second electrodes than that at the end of the connecting portion, a step of forming a positioning pattern of the resistor on the substrate, a step of recognizing the height of the insulating substrate, a step of adjusting the position of the application nozzle for the resistor paste depending upon the results of recognition, and a step of applying the resistor paste over the insulating substrate and the first and second electrodes, the center of the strip form heat generating resistor can be positioned at the shortest portion between the electrode leads, the recording head can be manufactured more uniformly and fluctuation of the printing color development density can be made smaller.
  • the production process comprises a step of forming the first and second electrodes to have a narrower interval at the center portion of the connecting portion of the first and second electrodes than that at the end of the connecting portion, a step of adhering an organic membrane on the insulating substrate on which the first and second electrodes are arranged, a step of removing the organic membrane at a portion where the resistor is formed by photographic patterning, a step of filling the resistor paste into the portion where the organic membrane is removed, and a step of removing the organic membrane in conjunction with sintering the resistor paste to form the resistor, the center of the strip form heat generating resistor can be positioned at the shortest portion between the electrode leads, the recording head can be manufactured more uniformly and fluctuation of the printing color development density can be made smaller.
  • FIG. 1 is a plan view showing one embodiment of a recording head according to the present invention
  • FIG. 2 is a graph showing a dot size in a secondary scanning direction printed by the conventional thermal head
  • FIG. 3 is a graph showing a dot size in the secondary scanning direction printed by one embodiment of a thermal head according to the present invention
  • FIG. 4 is a graph showing a black solid printing density printed by the conventional thermal head
  • FIG. 5 is a graph showing the black solid printing density printed by one embodiment of the thermal head of the invention.
  • FIG. 6 is a graph showing fluctuation of printing density printed by the conventional thermal head
  • FIG. 7 is a graph showing fluctuation of printing density printed by one embodiment of the thermal head of the invention.
  • FIG. 8 is a graph showing maximum surface temperature of a heat generating resistor of the conventional thermal head and one embodiment of the thermal head of the invention.
  • FIG. 9 is a graph showing comparison of an applied pulse period in the conventional thermal head and one embodiment of the thermal head of the invention.
  • FIG. 10 is a plan view showing one embodiment of a recording head of the present invention.
  • FIG. 11 is a plan view showing one embodiment of a recording head of the present invention.
  • FIG. 12 is a plan view showing another embodiment of a recording head of the present invention.
  • FIG. 13 is a plan view showing a further embodiment of a recording head of the present invention.
  • FIG. 14 is a plan view showing a still further embodiment of a recording head according to the invention.
  • FIG. 15 is a perspective view showing a production device of the recording head of FIG. 14;
  • FIG. 16 is an illustration showing a production flow of the recording head of FIG. 14;
  • FIGS. 17A, 17B and 17C are plan views of the recording head illustrated in FIG. 14;
  • FIGS. 18A, 18B and 18C are sections of the recording head illustrated in FIGS. 17A, 17B and 17C;
  • FIGS. 19A, 19B and 19C are illustrations showing production flow of the recording head illustrated in FIGS. 17A, 17B, 17C, 18A, 18B and 18C;
  • FIGS. 20(a), 20(i), 20(ii), 20(iii) and 20(iv) are illustrations showing production flow and sections in the production process in yet further embodiment of a recording head according to the invention.
  • FIGS. 21A and 21B are perspective views showing a still further embodiment of a recording head according to the invention.
  • FIGS. 22A and 22B are perspective views of a further embodiment of a recording head according to the invention.
  • FIG. 23 is a plan view showing the conventional thermal head
  • FIGS. 24A and 24B are perspective views showing a still further embodiment of a recording head according to the invention.
  • FIGS. 25A and 25B are perspective views of a yet further embodiment of a recording head according to the invention.
  • FIG. 27 is a section of a yet further embodiment of a recording head according to the invention and a recording apparatus employing the same;
  • FIG. 28 is a section of a still further embodiment of a recording head according to the invention and a recording apparatus employing the same;
  • FIG. 29 is a plan view showing the conventional thermal head
  • FIGS. 30A and 30B are, respectively, an illustration of temperature distribution of a heat generating resistor of the conventional recording head and a section thereof;
  • FIG. 31 is an illustration showing applied voltage and variation of thermal resistance value
  • FIG. 32 is an illustration showing number of applied pulses and variation of the thermal resistance value.
  • numeral 1 denotes a strip form common electrode
  • 2 denotes a plurality of common electrode leads extending from one edge of the strip form common electrode 1 in a comb-like fashion
  • 3 denotes a plurality of individual electrode leads respectively having one end positioned between two common electrode leads
  • 4 denotes a strip form resistor formed by applying a resistor paste, such as that composed of ruthenium oxide and a glass component, over the common electrode leads 2 and the individual electrode leads 3 and drying and sintering the same.
  • 5 denotes a portion where an interval between the common electrode lead 2 and the individual electrode lead 3 is smaller than a distance between the edges of the heat generating resistor in the width direction.
  • the interval between the common electrode lead 2 and the individual electrode lead 3 is S and the distance between the edges of the heat generating resistor is L.
  • the heat generating resistors disposed between the common electrode lead 2 and the individual electrode lead 3 are energized between the electrodes by selectively driving the individual electrodes leads 3.
  • the current flows over the whole area of the common electrode lead 2 and the individual electrode lead 3 (width forming the heat generating resistor), but if the sheet resistance of the heat generating resistor at the interval is uniform, the portion of the interval S as illustrated by 5 should have the lowest resistance compared with the portion where the interval is L.
  • the electrode lead width at the electrode interval S is F
  • the electrode lead width at the electrode interval L is F
  • the sheet resistance of the heat generating resistor is R(S)
  • the resistance in the fine lead width F becomes proportional to the dimension between the electrodes.
  • a charge voltage is B
  • the applied power in the fine lead width F is inversely proportional to the resistance between the electrodes, the applied power is greater at when the interval between the electrodes is smaller, which makes the heat generation amount greater. Accordingly, with respect to the width of the heat generating resistor, the heat generation peak point is obtained at the portion 5 where the interval between the electrodes is small.
  • the pulse trimming method lowering of the resistance by application of the voltage between the electrodes is performed. Therefore, the resistance lowering portion in the pulse trimming becomes the interval shown by 5. Therefore, the heat generation peak point is determined at the specific point.
  • the strip form resistor does not have a flat cross-sectional configuration but has an angular or barrel-shaped configuration since the heat generating resistor is formed by applying the resistor paste, and then drying and sintering the same.
  • the composition of the resistor paste is uniform, the sheet resistance is lower at the portion having a higher height in cross-section.
  • the width of the heat generating resistor is small, the higher height portion of the angular cross-section (at substantially a central portion of the heat generating resistor) becomes a point having a significantly low fine resistance between electrodes.
  • the cross-sectional configuration becomes barrel-shaped having a wide area where the cross-sectional height is high, which makes it difficult to specify the portion to have minimum resistance.
  • FIG. 2 shows color developed secondary scan dot size (in the thermal paper feed direction) with the conventional thermal head having the strip like resistor width in a range of 190 ⁇ m to 250 ⁇ m, at a printing period of 10 ms and a charged pulse period of 1.8 ms employing the conventional thermal head of FIG. 29.
  • FIG. 3 shows color developed secondary scan dot size with the conventional thermal head having the strip like resistor width in a range of 190 ⁇ m to 250 ⁇ m, at a printing period of 10 ms and a charged pulse period of 1.8 ms employing the shown embodiment of the thermal head of FIG. 1.
  • a printing pattern a diced pattern was used as a printing pattern.
  • FIG. 4 shows a color development density in the foregoing experiments with a black solid printed by the conventional thermal head of FIG. 29.
  • FIG. 5 shows a color development density in the foregoing experiments with a black solid printed by the shown embodiment of the thermal head of FIG. 1.
  • FIGS. 2 and 4 show the prior art and FIGS. 3 and 5 show the embodiment.
  • FIGS. 3 and 5 show the embodiment.
  • the width of the resistor fluctuates, fluctuation of the printed dot size is small, and fluctuation of printing color development density is also small.
  • the dot size in the secondary scanning direction becomes greater as the width of the strip like resistor increases, which causes fading of the printed image and also causes lowering of color development density.
  • the shown embodiment improves this.
  • FIG. 6 shows the result in the prior art of FIG. 29
  • FIG. 7 shows the result in the shown embodiment.
  • FIGS. 6 and 7 when the charged pulse period is shortened, fluctuation of the color development becomes greater in the prior art.
  • the fluctuation is kept small and superior to the prior art. This demonstrates improvement of the tone printing performance in the shown embodiment of the recording head.
  • FIG. 8 is a graph of the measured maximum surface temperature of the heat generating resistor in the conventional thermal head in FIG. 8 and the shown embodiment of the thermal head of FIG. 1, under the conditions where the width of the heat generating resistor is in a range of 190 ⁇ m to 220 ⁇ m, the printing period is 10 ms and the charging pulse period is 1.8 ms.
  • Trace A in FIG. 8 shows the results obtained with respect to the shown embodiment of the thermal head and trace B shows the results obtained with respect to the conventional thermal head.
  • the results of measurement are obtained in the case where only one heat generating resistor is driven and adjacent thermal heads are not driven.
  • the shown embodiment has a small difference in surface temperature of the heat generating resistor depending upon the width of the heat generating resistor. Therefore, the thermal head may be produced with a relatively large tolerance, which makes manufacturing of the thermal head easier.
  • FIG. 9 shows the charged pulse period taken to reach the printing color development density of higher than or equal to 1.4D at the printing period of 10 ms, 20 ms, 30 ms, 40 ms and 50 ms.
  • the results shown in FIG. 9 were obtained at the width of formation of the strip form resistor of 220 ⁇ m with the conventional thermal head of FIG. 29 and the shown embodiment of the thermal head of FIG. 1.
  • A shows the case of the shown embodiment of the thermal head and B shows the case of the conventional thermal head.
  • the shown embodiment may have satisfactory color development at a shorter charged pulse width compared with that of the prior art. Therefore, the shown embodiment may achieve power saving.
  • the shown embodiment is adapted to partially widen only the width of the individual electrode lead, to lower the neccesary precision level in masking and etching.
  • the precision in masking is limited in the order of 10 ⁇ m in line width and line interval in the case of A4 size.
  • the pattern width becomes narrower with respect to the mask dimension by about 10 ⁇ m. Accordingly, the minimum value of the pattern width and pattern interval becomes approximately 20 ⁇ m.
  • the additional width in the wider portion of the center portion of the electrode in the heat generating resistor is merely 2.35 ⁇ m.
  • the additional width in the wider portion becomes only 1.175 ⁇ m.
  • Such a small width appears only dimly in the boundary of the pattern so that the wider pattern portion may not be clearly seen in the completed pattern.
  • the effect of the present invention can be applied even for the high resolution thermal head.
  • the strip form resistor is arranged thereon.
  • FIG. 13 it is possible to partially provide the wider width pattern only for the common electrode lead, and the strip form resistor is arranged thereon.
  • the center-to-center distance between two heat generating resistors disposed between the common electrode leads and the individual electrode leads becomes the smallest.
  • the surface temperature of two heat generating resistors rise as the distance becomes smaller. Accordingly, even with the same energy as the first and second embodiments of the thermal heads shown in FIGS. 1 and 12, the maximum surface temperature of the thermal resistance becomes higher.
  • the color development dot configuration formed by two heat generating resistors can take on a small configuration inclined toward the individual electrode lead.
  • color development at a low energy value becomes pale in FIGS. 1 and 12, and also, the color development configuration becomes unclear since the distance between two heat generating resistors is longer than that of the shown embodiment illustrated in FIG. 13.
  • the color development configuration may converge at a position centered at the individual electrode lead, to improve tone printing performance.
  • the maximum surface temperature of the heat generating resistor was 280 in the case of FIG. 12, and 330 in the case of FIG. 13.
  • the parallel resistance of two heat generating resistors disposed between the common electrode leads and the individual electrode leads was set at 1400 ⁇ , and power applied at a printing period of 5 ms, with a charged pulse width of 0.4 ms. Therefore, the maximum surface temperature of the heat generating in the embodiment of FIG. 13 becomes higher than that of FIG. 12 by approximately 50.
  • the width of the electrode lead is partially formed into a trapezium configuration, it is merely required to arrange the strip form resistor over the wider width portion of the electrode lead. Therefore, the configuration is not specified and can be of any appropriate configuration, such as triangular, circular and so forth.
  • the common electrode leads 2 and the individual electrode leads 3 are formed on the substrate 7, and in addition, positioning patterns 8 are provided at the edges of the substrate 7 for positioning the strip form resistor.
  • Application of the resistor paste for forming the strip form resistor is performed by way of pattern recognition of the positioning patterns 8 by a television camera, for example.
  • FIG. 15 generally shows the shown embodiment of the device.
  • 9 and 10 denote stationary television cameras
  • 11 denotes a movable television camera
  • 12 denotes a base
  • 13 denotes a resistor paste
  • 14 denotes a resistor paste application nozzle
  • 15 denotes a positioning reference pin for the substrate 7.
  • FIG. 16 is a flowchart showing the operation of the device of FIG. 15.
  • the positioning patterns 8 at the edges of the substrate 7 fixed along the positioning reference pins on the base 12 are recognized using pattern recognition by means of the stationary cameras 9 and 10.
  • the adjustment in Y direction and angular adjustment in ⁇ direction as shown in FIG. 15 is performed for adjustment of the base 12.
  • the adjustment of the position of the nozzle 14 is performed so that the nozzle 14 may move along the wider width portion of the electrode lead.
  • the movable television camera 11 moving together with the nozzle, pattern recognition of the electrode lead on the substrate 7 is performed, and the height of the insulative substrate is recognized to initiate application of the resistor paste with vertical adjustment of the nozzle in the Z direction.
  • the nozzle 14 and the movable television camera 11 are moved until application is completed.
  • the positioning patterns 8 at both edges of the substrate 7 are recognized by the stationary camera, and by fine adjustment of the base 12, it becomes possible to apply elongated resistor paste at the position centered at the partially formed wider width portion of the electrode lead.
  • FIG. 17A is a partial perspective view of the thermal head formed as set forth above.
  • FIG. 18A is a section taken along line C-D of FIG. 17A.
  • FIG. 19A is a flowchart showing a production process for the section of FIG. 18A.
  • 16 denotes an alumina ceramic having an alumina ceramic purity of approximately 96%
  • 17 denotes a glass graze layer for improvement of surface roughness of the alumina ceramic substrate and for providing arbitrary thermal characteristics for the heat generating resistor, to form the substrate 7.
  • an organic gold paste for example, is applied over entire surface.
  • the organic gold paste is dried and sintered to form a gold conductor film 18 having a thickness of approximately 0.5 ⁇ m as shown in FIG. 18A.
  • patterning of the common electrode lead, the individual electrode leads and the positioning pattern and so forth is performed.
  • the alumina ceramic substrate 16 is white in color
  • the glass graze layer 17 is transparent
  • the conductor pattern is gold.
  • light irradiation may make binary recognition difficult due to reflection from the gold color and the white color.
  • the manufacturing period may be shortened.
  • recognition of the height of the insulative substrate may be carried out using a contact type sensor instead of the movable television camera.
  • FIG. 17B shows the case where the electrode is provided over the strip form resistor
  • FIG. 17C shows the case where an upper side strip form resistor and a lower side strip form resistor are provided as shown in FIG. 18C as resistor 19 and resistor 20, respectively.
  • FIGS. 18B and 18C are C-D sections of FIGS. 17B and 17C
  • FIGS. 19B and 19C are flowcharts of the production processes thereof.
  • FIGS. 20, (i) to (iv) show production flow at a section taken along line E-F described in FIG. 20(a).
  • 21 denotes a dry film having a thickness of approximately 25 ⁇ m.
  • the dry film is initially applied over the entire surface of the substrate and is subsequently removed at the portion where the strip form resistor is formed by photographic patterning. Thereafter, by means of the nozzle 14, the resistor paste 13 is filled into the portion where the dry film is removed. After filling the resistor paste, the resistor paste is dried (at approximately 150° C.) in order to vaporize the solvent, and is subsequently placed in a sintering furnace of approximately 800° C.
  • the organic membrane as the dry film thermally decomposes at a temperature of approximately 300° C. and burns out at a temperature of 800° C. to leave only the resistor.
  • the strip form resistor can be formed.
  • the thermal head for thermal recording.
  • the present invention may be applicable for a recording head to perform liquid ejection by Joule heat of the heat generating resistor by arranging ink on the heat generating resistor.
  • FIGS. 21A, 21B and 22A, 22B are perspective views of the major portion of the recording head to perform liquid ejection.
  • 23 denotes a member to be arranged above the common electrode lead and forming a wall. The member covers the heat generating resistor portion of the thermal head shown in the former embodiment and is arranged above the common electrode lead to form a liquid passage 24 along each individual electrode.
  • the shown recording head is adapted for a bubble-jet printer. While not illustrated, the ink is introduced via a liquid supply line into the liquid passage 24 and temporarily maintained in the liquid passage. In this condition, by heating the heat generating resistor a bubble is generated by the heat of the heat generating resistor, and this causes ejection of the ink.
  • the position at which ejection occurs is controlled by the individual electrode similarly to the thermal head.
  • the member 23 forming the wall also serves to restrict the bubble pressure in one direction.
  • the partially widened electrode lead may have higher surface peak temperature of the heat generating resistor to achieve the effect of improvement in the printing performance even in the liquid ejection. It should be noted that a protective layer having an insulating property covering the heat generating resistor electrode is neglected from illustration.
  • the thermal resistor with the common electrode leads and the individual electrode leads
  • this is fluctuation of the portion having the minimum resistance value of each individual heat generating resistor 6, and as a result, the peak heating point fluctuates.
  • improvement of performance can be achieved.
  • FIGS. 24A, 24B, 25A, 25B and 26 show the construction of the recording head to perform liquid ejection employing the thermal head.
  • FIG. 26 24 denotes a hole positioned above the heat generating resistor, through which the liquid is ejected.
  • the heat generating resistors are controlled individually through the electrodes.
  • the resistance becomes more uniform since the shown embodiment does not employ two parallel resistors as in the foregoing first to seventh embodiments.
  • FIG. 28 shows an embodiment, in which an IC is mounted for forming the recording head shown in FIGS. 24A to 25B, and shows a section of the recording apparatus. Also, FIG. 27 shows an embodiment in which the IC is mounted as the recording head shown in FIG. 26.
  • 26 denotes an IC chip having a circuit for driving the heat generating resistor
  • 27 denotes a gold wire of approximately 30 ⁇ m diameter for establishing connection between the IC chip 26 and the electrode 25 on the substrate
  • 28 denotes a protective resin for sealing the gold wire
  • 29 denotes a printed circuit board, for example, in which a connector 30 is connected by soldering, and a circuit pattern for an IC chip 26 drive signal is connected thereto.
  • 32 denotes a support base of aluminum, for example, for supporting the printed circuit board 29
  • 33 denotes a protective cover for the IC chip and so forth
  • 34 denotes a recording paper
  • 35 denotes a die type liquid ink, for example, which is ejected onto the recording paper 34 by joule heat.
  • 36 denotes a platen roller for feeding the recording paper 34.
  • a faulty head in which the liquid passage is blocked by dust or so forth may be removed from the wall 23 and cleaned to as be assembled as a recording head in a normal condition. Therefore, the recording head can be recovered, instead of disposing of it.
  • widths of the first and second electrodes, at the center portion of the connecting portion connected to the resistor are made wider in comparison with those at the end of the connecting portion, fluctuation in size of the printing dot can be made smaller, fluctuation of printing color development can be made smaller and tone printing performance can be improved.
  • width of one of the first and second electrodes, at the center portion of the connecting portion connected to the resistor is made wider in comparison with that at the end of the connecting portion, fluctuation in size of the printing dot can be made smaller, fluctuation of printing color development can be made smaller and tone printing performance can be improved.
  • a center portion of the connecting portion, connected to the resistor is made wider in comparison with that at the end of the connecting portion fluctuation in size of printing dot can be made smaller, fluctuation of printing color development can be made smaller and tone printing performance can be improved.
  • the individual electrode leads with uniform width and forming the common electrode leads to have a wider portion at the center portion at the connecting portion with the resistor, a center portion at the connecting portion connected to the resistor is made wider in comparison with that at the end of the connecting portion, so that fluctuation in size of the printing dot can be made even smaller, fluctuation of printing color development can be made even smaller and tone printing performance can be further improved.
  • a printing liquid filling portion is provided to cover the resistor between the adjacent first and second electrodes, and a center portion of the connecting portion, connected to the resistor, is made wider in comparison with that at the end of the connecting portion, so that fluctuation in size of the printing dot by ejection of printing liquid onto the recording paper can be made smaller, fluctuation of printing color development can be made smaller and tone printing performance can be improved.
  • the printing liquid filling portion is arranged to cover the resistor between the first electrodes, and a center portion of the connecting portion, connected to the resistor, is made wider in comparison with that at the end of the connecting portion, fluctuation in the size of the printing dot can be made smaller, fluctuation of printing color development can be made smaller and tone printing performance can be improved.
  • the recording head can be made as a compact element to facilitate exchanging of the recording head.
  • the production process comprises a step of forming the first and second electrodes to have a narrower interval at the center portion of the connecting portion of the first and second electrodes than that at the end of the connecting portion, a step of forming a positioning pattern for the resistor on the substrate, a step of recognizing the height of the insulative substrate, a step of adjusting the position of the application nozzle for the resistor paste depending upon the results of recognition, and a step of applying the resistor paste over the insulative substrate and the first and second electrodes, the recording head can be manufactured more uniformly and fluctuation of the printing color development density can be made smaller.
  • the production process comprises a step of forming the first and second electrodes to have a narrower interval at the center portion of the connecting portion of the first and second electrodes than that at the end of the connecting portion, a step of adhering an organic membrane on the insulating substrate on which the first and second electrodes are arranged, a step of removing the organic membrane, at a portion where the resistor is formed, by photographic patterning, a step of filling the resistor paste into the portion where the organic membrane is removed, and a step of removing the organic membrane in conjunction with sintering of the resistor paste to form the resistor, the recording head can be manufactured more uniformly and fluctuation of the printing color development density can be made smaller.

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JP09020694A JP3376086B2 (ja) 1994-04-27 1994-04-27 記録ヘッド

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US (1) US5988797A (de)
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CN (1) CN1093037C (de)
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US6227657B1 (en) * 2000-06-19 2001-05-08 Xerox Corporation Low topography thermal inkjet drop ejector structure
US20090213373A1 (en) * 2003-09-25 2009-08-27 Deka Products Limited Partnership Detection System and Method for Aerosol Delivery

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JP2000246933A (ja) 1999-02-26 2000-09-12 Riso Kagaku Corp 厚膜式サーマルヘッド
JP3614318B2 (ja) * 1999-06-22 2005-01-26 理想科学工業株式会社 厚膜式サーマルヘッド
JP5595697B2 (ja) * 2009-09-09 2014-09-24 東芝ホクト電子株式会社 サーマルヘッド
JP6105392B2 (ja) * 2013-02-27 2017-03-29 京セラ株式会社 サーマルヘッドおよびこれを備えるサーマルプリンタ
JP5977719B2 (ja) * 2013-08-13 2016-08-24 アオイ電子株式会社 サーマルヘッド
TWI701156B (zh) * 2019-05-28 2020-08-11 謙華科技股份有限公司 列印裝置、熱印頭結構及熱印頭結構之製造方法
CN113386470A (zh) * 2020-03-11 2021-09-14 深圳市博思得科技发展有限公司 热敏打印头及其制造方法
WO2023188773A1 (ja) * 2022-03-28 2023-10-05 ローム株式会社 サーマルプリントヘッド、サーマルプリンタ、及びサーマルプリントヘッドの製造方法

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DE3012946A1 (de) * 1979-04-02 1980-10-23 Canon Kk Troepfchenerzeugungsvorrichtung
US4559542A (en) * 1982-06-07 1985-12-17 Fuji Xerox Co., Ltd. Thermal printing head
JPS61186447A (ja) * 1985-02-14 1986-08-20 Kubota Ltd 耐熱合金
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JPH01232069A (ja) * 1988-03-11 1989-09-18 Matsushita Electric Ind Co Ltd サーマルヘッド
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US6227657B1 (en) * 2000-06-19 2001-05-08 Xerox Corporation Low topography thermal inkjet drop ejector structure
US20090213373A1 (en) * 2003-09-25 2009-08-27 Deka Products Limited Partnership Detection System and Method for Aerosol Delivery
US20110079220A1 (en) * 2003-09-25 2011-04-07 Deka Products Limited Partnership Detection System and Method for Aerosol Delivery
US8687191B2 (en) 2003-09-25 2014-04-01 Deka Products Limited Partnership Detection system and method for aerosol delivery

Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
JP3376086B2 (ja) 2003-02-10
EP0679515B1 (de) 1998-12-09
DE69506467D1 (de) 1999-01-21
CN1118745A (zh) 1996-03-20
JPH07290739A (ja) 1995-11-07
DE69531221T2 (de) 2004-05-27
EP0867288B1 (de) 2003-07-02
EP0867288A3 (de) 1999-06-23
DE69506467T2 (de) 1999-08-19
EP0867288A2 (de) 1998-09-30
EP0679515A3 (de) 1996-05-15
CN1093037C (zh) 2002-10-23
EP0679515A2 (de) 1995-11-02
DE69531221D1 (de) 2003-08-07
TW352425B (en) 1999-02-11

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